


Puppy Love

by Eyela



Series: The Twilight Emporium - For all your mystical needs [2]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Accidental Confession, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Animal Transformation, Getting Together, M/M, Magic, Misunderstandings, No beta we die like mne, Witchcraft, background seongjoong - Freeform, background woosansang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27183964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eyela/pseuds/Eyela
Summary: “Too bad that Yunho isn’t here right now,” says Mingi, scratching behind the dog’s ears, “He loves cute dogs like you.”“Arf!” says the dog.“You know, you remind me of him, somehow,” says Mingi. “Same gorgeous big eyes, and you’re both so happy and adorable.” He sighs. “See, I can say that to you, but I can never seem to tellhimhow I feel. Pretty pathetic, huh?”In which some of the Twilight Emporium employees are hit with a transformation spell and, in the chaos, no one bothers to explain the situation to Mingi before leaving him alone with the golden retriever which has seemingly appeared out of nowhere
Relationships: Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi
Series: The Twilight Emporium - For all your mystical needs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984273
Comments: 14
Kudos: 184





	Puppy Love

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that these are just characters _inspired_ by the idols, rather than any attempt at actually depicting their real-life personalities and relationships. 
> 
> You don’t need to read “Two for One” first to understand this fic, but the setting might make more sense if they’re read in order.

It’s Mingi’s turn to go to the shops.

The list of items he’s been given is long, mostly comprised of potion ingredients such as toads’ eyes, cobra venom, mandrake root, python scales, and deadly nightshade.

They’re also out of milk.

Mingi heads to the apothecary first, because he wants to get it over with. He hates the gloomy little store and the old woman who runs it freaks him out.

He locates the entrance, tucked away in a grimy side-alley off the main road, and checks the doorway carefully for spiderwebs, the memory of getting tangle up in one last time he visited still all too fresh in his mind.

He knows the routine by now, and has the papers he needs in his hands before entering, so the owner doesn’t have an excuse to snap at him, (although it still doesn’t stop her glaring when he comes in, like he’s a nuisance and not a paying customer). He quickly hands over the Emporium’s certificate from the Board of Regulation of Magical Goods and Services, proof that San and Wooyoung are experienced potion-makers licenced to handle the more volatile ingredients, then waits patiently while she inspects it carefully for any signs of forgery, as if they don’t come here for supplies at least once a fortnight.

Eventually the old woman is satisfied and lets him make his purchases, after which Mingi beats a hasty retreat.

Eventually, all his errands are run, and he begins the walk back home to the Emporium.

He stops to grab a couple of coffees on the way back, one for himself and one for Yunho. He pays a little extra for Yunho’s, to get one of the charmed cups which keeps the drink warm for longer.

He and Yunho are the Emporium’s spellcasting experts. A few of the others practice spells too, but they specialise in certain areas, like Hongjoong’s transmutation and Yeosang’s charms, wards and illusions. Mingi and Yunho are generalists, with an impressive array of knowledge and ability between them, including but not limited to transfiguration, telekinetic forces like levitation and energy blasts, and the making and breaking of hexes, jinxes and curses.

For the most part though, their time is spent managing the Emporium’s stock of spell books, guides and texts, and offering advice for people trying out new magics, and help for people hit by curses and the like. 

It might seem like dull work, but Mingi loves it. The books they sell, especially the second-hand spell books they deal in, are fascinating to him, and even if they weren’t, it’s impossible to find anything boring with Yunho around. Whether they’re discussing their work, goofing around, or simply just chatting about whatever comes to mind, Yunho is a ray of sunshine, wonderful and warm and witty and bright, and there’s no one Mingi would rather spend time with.

…it’s probably worth mentioning that Mingi likes Yunho as more than a friend.

He values their friendship, he truly does, but Mingi is long past the denial phase of trying to pretend he doesn’t want more from the relationship. He wishes he could tell Yunho how beautiful he is, wishes he could kiss him, wishes they could sleep in the same bed every night and wake up with each other like Hongjoong and Seonghwa, or Wooyoung, San and Yeosang. But he doesn’t know if Yunho feels the same, and he’d hate to ruin everything by asking for more if he doesn’t.

So, Mingi sticks to small gestures, like spending more for magically heated coffee, and otherwise keeps his thoughts to himself.

Mingi is looking forward to getting back to the store today. Late afternoons are usually a quiet period in the Emporium, when the midday rush has died down, but the various nocturnal residents of the city aren’t yet awake. Hopefully, he and Yunho can take some time to themselves to drink their coffees and sort through their new delivery of encyclopaedias together.

As he approaches the Emporium however, something seems to be amiss. A few passers-by have paused outside the shop windows and are peering in with wide eyes, and Mingi can hear shouting coming from within. He speeds up, hoping nothing’s wrong but wanting to get there quickly if his friends do need help.

He’s nearly at the door when, within the space of a few seconds, all hell breaks loose.

The door is flung open and a wild-eyed man races outside. He’s clutching a box full of potion bottles to his chest and is being closely pursued by a fox, yapping angrily, and a determined-looking black cat. There’s a rush of wings from overhead, and Mingi yelps and ducks just in time to avoid a large bird colliding with his head. The hawk (or falcon, or whatever it is) also seems to have come from inside the store, and also seems to be following the strange man, shrieking in anger.

That isn’t the strangest part though, because the next moment a stag – a _whole stag,_ antlers and all – launches out of the door. The passers-by scream and stumble back at its appearance, and the stag jerks to a halt, hooves skidding wildly as it tried to regain its balance.

More shouting comes from within the store and Wooyoung comes barrelling out, nearly crashing into the stag, which he seems strangely unsurprised to see.

“Where did they…?” he wheezes, looking around wildly.

His eyes pass straight over Mingi and fix onto the strange man with the potions, rapidly disappearing into the crowd with the other animals behind him.

“Stop thief!” screeches Wooyoung, and takes off after the man, the deer following close on his heels.

Mingi, still frozen on the sidewalk with his arms full of groceries and coffee, watches them go with his mouth agape.

“Mingi!” cries a voice, and he spins around to come face-to-face with Hongjoong.

“Hyung!” cries Mingi, “What the hell’s going on?!”

“No time, no time,” says Hongjoong breathlessly, “No one’s hurt, just watch the store while we’re gone, ok?”

Then he’s gone, hurtling off down the street after Wooyoung. Mingi stand still for a moment longer, brain still trying to process everything that just happened, then shakes his head numbly and heads inside.

Moving on autopilot, Mingi dumps his shopping on a side table and closes the door behind him, taking a moment to pin up the ‘ _closed due to magical mishap – sorry for any inconvenience’_ sign in the window. He’s not entirely sure of the situation yet, but it seems to qualify.

“Anyone else here?” he calls, but receives no answer, and is immediately glad Hongjoong let him know everyone was ok, or he’d definitely be freaking out by now.

Still, what the hell happened? They’ve had people attempt to rob the Emporium before, but a hoard of animals is new.

Mingi wanders through the shelves, checking for damage. There are signs of a struggle, a few baskets of herb bundles knocked over and some of Yeosang’s and Hongjoong’s charmed jewellery is scattered over the floor. Thankfully, all Seonghwa’s crystal balls appear to be intact - Mingi knows the seer would be devastated if his expensive stock was damaged.

He reaches the book section, and winces when he sees that it’s not in great shape. Still, at least nothing appears to be particularly damaged, just in disarray.

He’s just started gathering up the nearest fallen stack when he hears a crash and a whimper from behind the main display table, and whirls around.

A big golden retriever is tangled up in the canvas sheet they cover the spare book boxes with to keep the dust out. Mingi blinks in surprise.

“How did you get in here?”

The dog doesn’t respond, of course, but it does stop struggling and instead turns big, piteous eyes on Mingi, who chuckles.

“Ok, don’t worry, I’ll help you.”

He crouches down and unwinds the canvas from where it’s wrapped around the big dog’s middle, then gently pulls its paw out of the hole in the sheet that it’s stuck in. The dog shakes itself as soon as he’s done, then wags its tail and barks.

“You’re welcome,” laughs Mingi, then purses his lips. “Did you get magically summoned, or do you have an owner you got separated from in all the commotion? Guess I’ll have to ask the others when they get back.”

The dog trots away and noses along one of the shelves, pawing at one the spine of one of the spell books.

“Hey, stop that!”

The dog ignores him, so Mingi strides over and pulls the dog away from the shelf.

“Get away from there!” he scolds. “You’ll damage our books!”

The dog stops and gives a frustrated little whine.

“Why don’t you go sit over there, out of the way, while I fix up this mess? Hopefully your owner will be back to pick you up soon, yeah?”

The dog lets out a huff but thankfully complies, settling down to watch Mingi work.

Once he’s finished tidying up the books, Mingi sits down in one of the chairs behind the counter and pats his leg invitingly, hoping the dog will join him. It trots over happily, tag wagging, and Mingi can’t help the smile spreading across his face at the sight.

“Who’s a beautiful boy then?” he asks, laughing, and bends down to pat it. The dog promptly sits on Mingi’s foot and leans its big head against his knee, tail continuing to thump against the floorboards.

“Too bad that Yunho isn’t here right now,” says Mingi, scratching behind the dog’s ears, “He loves cute dogs like you.”

“Arf,” says the dog.

“You know, you remind me of him, somehow,” says Mingi. “Same gorgeous big eyes, and you’re both so happy and adorable.” He sighs. “See, I can say that to you, but I can never seem to tell _him_ how I feel. Pretty pathetic, huh?”

The dog suddenly goes still, and Mingi pauses.

“What’s the matter, boy? Do you hear something?”

He glances around the store, but there’s no sign of movement, so he goes back to petting the dog’s soft ears.

“I wish I could just man up and ask him out,” he says. “Tell him I’ve been in love with him for ages now. But I really don’t want to ruin our friendship, y’know? He’s my best friend and he means the world to me, and I couldn’t bear it if I made things awkward between us just because I’m selfish and want us to be more than that.”

The dog whines again, and Mingi chuckles at the way it almost sounds sympathetic, as if the dog understands what Mingi is saying.

“You’d like him,” he tells the dog. “Everyone likes him. There’s just so much to like about Yunho. He’s so funny and sweet, and when he’s happy, he makes everyone else in the room happy too. I love him so much.”

The dog is still staring up at him with its big, lovely eyes, and it shifts forward slowly to rest its head in Mingi’s lap. Mingi blinks, surprised, then smiles and shakes his head.

“As long as you don’t drool on my pants,” he says, and resumes stroking the dog’s ears.

They sit together for a while longer, until the bell at the door sounds, and Mingi turns to see Hongjoong and Wooyoung trudging in.

“Well that was a fiasco,” says Hongjoong tiredly.

He has the furious-looking hawk perched on his shoulder, and is carrying the box of potions the strange man had run off with. Wooyoung has the black cat curled around his shoulders like a bad-tempered scarf, ears back and tail twitching agitatedly, and is holding the squirming fox tightly against his chest.

“Where’s our curse-breaker?” he asks, looking around. “Mingiiiii!”

“Over here!”

Mingi waves from where he’s seated and Wooyoung marches over and dumps the fox on the counter, then gets to work unpeeling the cat from around his neck.

“Yeosangie, I love you and you’re very cute, but if you don’t retract your claws _right now_ then I swear to the gods-”

“Yeosang?” interrupts Mingi, staring at the cat with wide eyes.

_Surely he can’t mean…_

Before Mingi can finish the thought or Wooyoung can reply, there’s a bang and a strange scraping sound from the front of the store and everyone jerks around.

“No Jongho, wait! You’ll damage something!” shouts Hongjoong.

The huge stag is stuck in the doorway, antlers too wide to fit comfortably through the only partially-opened door. Hongjoong quickly hurries over to help, the hawk on his shoulder flapping its wings agitatedly.

“Here, wait, let me hold it open for you!”

Mingi gapes after them. The other animals… are his friends?

Wooyoung rings the customer service bell on the desk to get Mingi’s attention again.

“Hi, yes, I’d like two human boyfriends to take away, please,” he says a little impatiently, then blinks at the sight of the dog. “Oh, you haven’t turned Yunho back yet?”

Mingi’s blood runs cold. 

Holy shit, this is bad, this is _very bad_. He just spent the last ten minutes gushing about the person he liked, _to the person he liked_. 

_Oh gods help him, he just told Yunho he was in love with him_.

He spins to face the dog, to face _Yunho_ , who at least has the decency to fold his ears down and look away guiltily, even though it’s not _really_ his fault.

“How… how did this happen?” Mingi hears himself ask faintly.

“A customer came in looking for a love potion without a prescription,” says Hongjoong, who has freed Jongho from the door and wandered back over.

“Wooyoung denied service, of course, but when he tried to explain that it wasn’t legal, the man got up in his face and started screaming about poor customer service and demanding to see a manager. Hwa and I were already on our way over since we heard the shouting, but…” Hongjoong rubs his forehead tiredly. “Once San and Yeosang saw Wooyoung getting harassed, they stepped in first. You know how protective they are.”

Wooyoung rolls his eyes and flicks the fox’s ear, retracting his hand quickly before his fingers get bitten.

“Like I couldn’t have handled it,” he says.

“Like you’re not just as bad,” scoffs Hongjoong.

Mingi has to agree. The trio all tease each other fairly mercilessly, but if an outsider so much as breathes on one of them wrong, the other two will be up in arms instantly. Wooyoung pouts, but can’t really argue.

“Anyway, Yeosang did his… thing,” Hongjoong gestures vaguely to his own face. “You know how he does.”

Mingi does know. He’s been on the receiving end of Yeosang’s illusions before, when Mingi’s accidentally eaten the last of the takeaway chicken Yeosang was saving for later, and it’s pretty terrifying – his already piercing gaze amplified by glowing eyes and sinister shadows, the way he suddenly seems to _loom_ despite being average height.

“So yeah, usually that gets people to back off, but _this_ guy panicked, fired off some kind of wide-range transformation spell, and then grabbed a whole box of love potion and booked it.”

The hawk – _gods, that’s Seonghwa isn’t it?_ thinks Mingi, fighting back a hysterical laugh – lets out an angry squawk, and Hongjoong absently makes a soothing noise and reaches up to stroke his feathers.

“It’s ok darling, we got him. He’s in police custody now, remember? And we’ve got all our potions back,” he says reassuringly.

Seonghwa clicks his beak and settles back down, and Hongjoong smiles fondly.

“Yeosang and San were already standing in front of Wooyoung, and Seonghwa pushed me behind him once he realised what was happening,” he continues, turning back to Mingi, “But everyone else got hit. We’re lucky no customers were in range.”

Mingi nods vaguely, distracted by the strange sight of a stag standing in the charms aisle. It’s almost eerie how calm it looks despite being so out of place, even though Mingi _knows_ now that it’s really Jongho.

“...So can we get that counter-spell?” says Wooyoung after a moment.

“Right,” says Mingi quickly. “Right, yes, right away. I’ll just…”

Mingi quickly locates the book he needs – the one Yunho was trying to point out earlier, he realises with an internal groan – and flicks through the pages to find the counter-spell. He starts with the little black cat still sitting on the counter, which vanishes in a puff of smoke to reveal a slightly dishevelled and very irritated-looking Yeosang.

“Ok, I’d like to _never_ do that again please,” he says, clambering awkwardly off the counter and straightening his clothes with a huff.

“Aw, but you were so cute as a little kitty-cat, Yeosangie!” says Wooyoung, swooping in to kiss his cheek.

Yeosang reels back and hisses at him, then claps a hand over his mouth in shock.

“Ah, right,” says Mingi, quickly consulting the spell book again. “Some animalistic behaviour may persist in some cases, but this should not last more than a few minutes.”

Yeosang glares as Wooyoung, Hongjoong and even San, despite his fox form, burst into laughter.

Mingi works quickly, turning back San, Jongho and Seonghwa, all of whom are ruffled but unharmed by the ordeal. The others trickle back upstairs once their human forms have been restored. Eventually, there’s no one left but Mingi and the golden retriever he now knows is his best friend.

Mingi watches the door swing shut behind Hongjoong and Seonghwa, then steels himself to turn back around. Yunho is sitting in front of the counter, watching him unblinkingly, head on one side.

“Ok,” says Mingi, a little shakily. “I… I just want to say, before anything else, that I’m _so_ sorry, Yunho. If I’d realised what was going on, I would never have said any of those things. I never wanted to force my feelings onto you, and I probably made you really uncomfortable. I just… I really hope I haven’t ruined everything, but I understand if you don’t want-”

The dog bursts into a volley of barks, drowning him out, and Mingi winces.

“Ah, right, sorry,” he says. “I’m here babbling on and you just want to be human again. I just… wanted to say that first. I’m sorry. I’ll… I’ll turn you back now.”

The dog sits down slowly again, still watching Mingi intently. Mingi shakes himself and raises his hands, beginning to recite the counter-spell for the fifth time this evening.

The smoke clears, and Yunho, tall, blond, handsome, _human_ Yunho, is kneeling on the floor in the dog’s place. Mingi breathes a sigh of relief that the spell worked despite his nerves.

Then all at once, Yunho is surging to his feet, and Mingi is giving a startled yelp as a pair of lips are suddenly pressed against his. Mingi freezes up, unable to process what’s happening, because _Yunho can’t be kissing him, this doesn’t make sense._

Mingi pulls back and stares at Yunho in shock.

“I…” he says dumbly, “Yunho, what…?”

“I like you too!” blurts Yunho, and Mingi’s brain promptly short-circuits.

When Mingi doesn’t respond, just stands there gaping like an idiot, concern clouds Yunho’s face.

“Was that too forward?” he asks, quickly backing up. “I’m sorry, I should’ve asked before kissing you, I just… I like you too, _so_ much, and I just had to sit there and listen to you say all those lovely things, and then go on about how I probably didn’t like you back, but I couldn’t _say_ anything and it was so frustrating and I…”

“You like me?” repeats Mingi, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I do,” Yunho confirms instantly. “I really do.”

This time it’s Mingi who kisses Yunho.

Yunho’s lips are soft and warm, and Mingi melts into the feeling, lacing his hands in Yunho’s hair while Yunho’s go to Mingi’s sides to pull him closer. It’s even better than Mingi imagined and he never wants to stop, even when they have to part for breath and pull back, resting their foreheads together.

It’s then that Mingi frowns slightly in confusion. Yunho’s body is sort of… wriggling from side to side. It takes Mingi a second to realise what’s happening, but when he does, a smile splits across his face.

“You’re trying to wag your tail!” he exclaims.

Yunho freezes, eyes widening as if he’s only just become aware of what he was doing, and his face reddens. Then the two of them burst out laughing.

“You can’t blame me!” says Yunho, through his laughter. “I’m just really, really happy right now, ok?”

The words make warmth bloom in Mingi’s chest, his heart swelling.

“Me too,” he says, pulling Yunho back in for another kiss. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, kudos and comments are always appreciated!


End file.
